Report – NSW attorney general to abstain from Friday’s R18+ vote

GameSpot AU’s reporting this morning that the attorney general of New South Wales is to abstain from the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General meeting on Friday, which would have seen AGs as well as state and territory censorship ministers voting on the introduction of an R18+ rating for games in Australia.

The department of NSW AG, Greg Smith, has told the site that “more work” is needed on the issue.

“We’re not going down a definitive route,” said a rep. “More work needs to be done on this issue. We want to wait to see the results of the ALRC [Australian Law Reform Commission] classification review.”

As noted by GameSpot, if Smith does take up the abstaining stance, as promised, it would mean a further delay to the actual vote of the R18+ classification.

It was reported this morning that South Australia AG John Rau was to replace the MA15 rating with an R18 listing in the territory, regardless of events this Friday.